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Hatchwise Designs The New “X” Logo For Twitter
If you’ve been online within the last few weeks, chances are that you’re aware of the flash rebrand that occurred at Twitter, courtesy of its enigmatic leader, Elon Musk. In an act that has launched a storm of enthusiastic (and decidedly mixed) reactions, Musk announced that his social media platform would bear the emblem “X”.
It’s no secret that we love rebrands. While classic designs will always have a place in the design world, the drive to re-imagine conventional logos help keep our visual palates fresh.
Twitter has been a cauldron of change ever since its acquisition by Musk, and the starkness of its new design reflects a new, aggressive dynamism. It is a sharp contrast with the old blue bird logo, which looks almost jejune in comparison.
While social media continues to debate the merits of the new logo, we eagerly embraced the moment and made it the centerpiece of our most recent design contest. The task was simple: see if you can one-up the wealthiest man in the world.
As we expected, our intrepid designers were up to the challenge. In total, we received 378 entries, ranging from safe, to weird, to the outer spatial. Having to choose one out of many excellent candidates was, as always, exceedingly difficult.
For your enjoyment, we’ve curated a selection of our most noteworthy entries below, culminating in the winner.
Honorable Mentions
A clean look that manages to soften the inherent aggressiveness of the letter “X” with some deft re-alignment.
A woven design nicely executed to convey a sense of unity.
The symmetry works here, and the rounded edges lend a welcoming soft touch
The use of realistic wings adds a nice depth to this design.
The long tail of the X leads the eye and makes for a clever balance with the filleted circular background.
This design really gets its bang for the buck, carving the letter X into three distinct forms.
A simple and elegant design that uses a black background effectively to spotlight the central form.
Points for innovativeness for this crossroad design with a twist.
The choice of featuring one arm of the “X” over imbues this logo with a sense of purpose.
This design puts the letter X through visual gymnastics in an unexpected way.
The angles in this design suggest an X that is actively transforming into avian form.
The metallic shading of this design works well against a black background.
A sense of transition is captured nicely in this rendering.
The placement of the “X” in mid-orbit helps this design pop in 3D.
Less is more in this design, which evokes both a crossroads and a vacuum.
A well-rendered concept a bit out of the norm, this design invites a cerebral interpretation.
There’s a great metaphor to be found within the clash of blue and red here.
The open-ended arms of the “X” in this design lend a nice balance to the bold lines.
A clean and simple design that subverts “X” into a clear path of possibility.
This logo pops thanks to the bold use of contrast.
Veering almost into abstract territory, this is a design for the eclectics out there.
The Twitter bird finds perhaps its most triumphant form in this design.
It’s hard to tell where this design begins and ends, which is part of the fun.
Obligatory…
This design features two identical avian forms going in opposite directions, making for a balanced look.
This design invokes fluidity by portraying a bird that simply happens to take the form of an “X” in mid-wingbeat.
The graceful form depicted here doubles beautifully as a subtly off-kilter “X”.
The folded corner gives this design just the right amount of irreverence.
We’re not 100% sure about the exact metaphor being conveyed here, but we do enjoy the black and white minimalism of this vision.
The Short List
These were the entries that we thought were especially unique or compelling. Though they fell just short of claiming the top prize, we felt they deserved special recognition.
Points for pure visual appeal on this one – the interlocking shapes are harmonious in a way that’s especially eye-pleasing.
This was one of the more creative efforts we saw, imagining X as a series of thought bubbles going in different directions.
Hansel is so hot right now with this nifty concept. The choice to portray the bird as almost plane-like in appearance is something that surely would have sparked some conversations on social media.
This was a purely aesthetic choice, apart from any practical applications in a corporate environment. Great use of symmetry here, and we love the X / bird a la Rorshach.
This design blends the old and the new in a way that’s seamless and provocative in its re-imagination of the Twitter bird in raptor form.
Throwback time! We love the vintage vibes from this entry, which catches the eye with its generous use of space and color.
We saw quite a few designs which evoked space themes (nice synergies there), and this was our top pick in that category. The twin streaks are an especially nice touch to convey motion on the dominant axis.
The singularity is here! The stark simplicity of this design combined with its irresistible inward gravity is delightful in Twitter blue.
Our favorite take on the “crossroads” design. What took this logo to another level was the use of solid black, bringing to mind the sort of mystery-shrouded black box ingenuity we assume was behind the rebranding decision in the first place.
This design topped the list in the “fun” category. This is the Twitter bird living its best life. It’s lean, it’s jaunty, and it doesn’t care what the world thinks about controversial social media titans.
Runner-up
We adore the boldness of this design, which utilizes raw, visceral imagery in a way that stands out among the other entries. This is the populist emblem of a social media machine that froths innovation, leaks war footage, and swings elections. It’s a beautiful encapsulation of social media as a living biomass, stripped of corporate polish and monetizing niceties.
This is a logo that deserves a spotlight. Whether that spotlight would be better suited for a street mural or a phone screen icon is fair to debate. Regardless, we would be remiss if we did not recognize the subversive brilliance of this effort, which has vibes more Malcolm X than Model X.
The Winner
Positivity radiates from this clever reconfiguration of the iconic Twitter bird into a version of the letter X that is efficient in its flight, and at the same time manages to retain a hint of the playfulness of its predecessor.
From a technical perspective, this logo is a reminder that clean lines and simplicity never go out of style. Two forms separate subtly by a band of white space which cleverly evokes motion and air in mid-flight. The upward angle of the bird’s form is a nice optimistic touch. Full wing extension exudes confidence befitting the evolution of Twitter itself, a company whose first office was in a warehouse and which now resides in a San Francisco skyscraper.
If you look closely enough, the curves of the bird’s wings and torso are subtly evocative of flames. In soothing blue, the effect is more gentle strength than consuming heat.
Rebrands can spark emotional reactions. We understand – breaking up with a familiar logo can be hard. The beauty of this design is that it evokes an optimistic transition rather than an abrupt break. We feel confident in saying that users would have had an easier time adjusting had this been Twitter HQ’s choice.
We’d like to extend our congratulations to the winner, RASEL2021 for a fantastic entry. Their work is certainly worthy of a retweet (or an X-hibit). Now, the next step is convincing Elon Musk to rethink his decision. Last we checked, there’s still room atop the Twitter building.
Other Official Hatchwise Contests
Reimagining The Pride Flag, Hatchwise Style – This Pride Month, we wanted to see what unique takes on the Pride Flag our community of designers could imagine. Entries ranged from slight variations of the classic rainbow to full reimaginings that blew our minds. Our pool of talented artists took this contest by storm, submitting over 100 designs.
Community Logo Design Contest: Redesign the Rhode Island State Logo – On March 28th, Rhode Island unveiled its new logo, part of a $5M marketing campaign. Despite the fact that the logo was designed by Milton Glaser, a renowned designer previously responsible for the ILoveNY logo, among others, response has been largely negative, with some going as far as describing the logo as “embarrassing“..
Hatchwise Redesigns The US Space Force Logo – When we first saw the new logo for the newest branch of the United States military, Space Force, we were very underwhelmed, to say the least. In addition to being bland and uninspired the new logo bears an uncanny resemblance to the fictional Starfleet design from the fictional series Star Trek.
Hatchwise Designs The New “X” Logo For Twitter – If you’ve been online within the last few weeks, chances are that you’re aware of the flash rebrand that occurred at Twitter, courtesy of its enigmatic leader, Elon Musk. While social media continues to debate the merits of the new logo, we eagerly embraced the moment and made it the centerpiece of our most recent design contest. The task was simple: see if you can one-up the wealthiest man in the world.
- Dennis